I know this is last minute; however, this is too important to not put out!

I received an email alert from Arizona State Senator Karen Johnson (see
below) about Ohio holding a hearing in the Ohio House Judiciary committee to
pass/fail Ohio HJR 8, which is a call for a constitutional convention by the
State of Ohio.. Our country cannot withstand a con-con and we would all be
in, well, you know what, if the con-con call requirements were met and one
was held.

I do not know if there is much we can do from out-of-state; however, this is
such a great threat that I think an effort should at least be made.

The link to the resolution is below.

The Judiciary committee was supposed to hear it today, but their website has
not been updated with the status as of yet, so I do not know the outcome of
today's hearing.

Note: Arizona rescinded its call for a Constitutional Convention in 2003.

The Ohio state legislature is possibly going to vote this afternoon on a
resolution calling for a national constitutional convention. Only two more
states are needed. We do NOT want to have a constitutional convention they
could scrap our entire U.S. Constitution with the Bill of Rights and start
over!! There is more detailed explanation below from Tom DeWeese at the
American Policy Center, but I am asking everyone to make two phone calls:
ACTION TO TAKE

We need only stop the House bill, HJR8, sponsored by Representative Louis
Blessing, chairman of the Ohio House Judiciary Committee (there is a Senate
bill too).

1. Call Chairman Blessing's office and tell his staff you oppose a
Constitutional Convention and you want this process stopped.

Tell them this is the most dangerous time ever to call for such a
convention.

2. Call Representative Bill Batchelder. He is a very good man. I've known
him for years. But he has been misled on this issue. The word is he is
wavering. Your calls can convince him to withdraw his support. That can kill
this bill.

Thanks for making these phone calls! Also, please send this email to
everyone you know in every state. This vote affects everyone in the
country, so you have a vested interest in the outcome. If you can't get
through on the phone, keep trying and send an email while you're waiting!
Senator Karen S. Johnson

This is the most urgent, most important action alert the American Policy
Center has ever issued! The Ohio state legislature is expected to vote
today, Wednesday, Dec. 10th, to call for a Constitutional Convention (Con
Con). If Ohio calls for a Con Con only one more state need do so and
Congress will have no choice but to convene a Convention, throwing our U.S.
Constitution and Bill of Rights up for grabs. Ohio's vote today poses a
grave threat to the U.S. Constitution. Please immediately call the Ohio
lawmakers listed below. ACT FAST - time is of the essence!

I apologize! This malignancy most foul remained undetected by our radar
until a good friend brought it to our attention yesterday. The hour is late,
but WE MUST TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION!

It does not matter where you live. Ohio's vote today endangers everyone in
every state in the Union, so we must pressure Ohio lawmakers to discard this
disastrous legislative effort.

Thirty-two (32) other states have already called for a Con Con (allegedly to
add a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution). 34 states are all that
is required, and then Congress MUST convene a Convention.

The U.S. Constitution places no restriction on the purposes for which the
states can call for a Convention. If Ohio votes to call a Con Con, for
whatever purpose, the United States will be only one state away from total
destruction. And it's a safe bet that those who hate this nation, and all
She stands for, are waiting to pounce upon this opportunity to re-write our
Constitution. We dare slumber no longer; we must take immediate action to
preserve this nation!

Certainly all loyal Americans want government constrained by a balanced
budget. But calling a Con Con risks a revolutionary change in our form of
government. The ultimate outcome will likely be a new constitution; one that
would possibly eliminate the Article 1 restriction to the coinage of real
money or even eliminate gun or property rights. So what may look like a good
idea to the legislators driving this effort - all Republicans - will
certainly make them prey to the law of unintended consequences - at the very
least insuring the U.S. will never have a balanced budget - while destroying
what vestiges of liberty the government still allows.

You may have heard that some of those 32 states have voted to rescind their
calls. This is true. However, under Article V of the Constitution, Congress
must call a Constitutional Convention whenever 2/3 (or 34) of the states
apply. The Constitution makes no provision for rescission. We've been told
advocates of the convention are waiting to capture just two more states -
Ohio, and one other. They can then challenge the other states' rescissions
in the courts while going ahead with the Convention. Congress alone then
decides whether state legislatures or state conventions ratify proposed
amendments.

You may have heard the states can control the subject of any convention. In
truth no restrictive language from any state can legally limit the scope or
outcome of a Convention! Once a Convention is called Congress determines how
the delegates to the Convention are chosen. Once chosen, those Convention
delegates possess more power than the U.S. Congress itself; if it were not
so they would not be able to change the U.S. Constitution!

We have not had a Constitutional Convention since 1787. That Convention was
called to make small changes in the Articles of Confederation. As a point of
fact, several states first passed resolutions requiring their delegates
discuss amendments to the Articles ONLY, forbidding even discussion of
foundational changes . However, following the delegates' first agreement
that their meetings be in secret, their second act was to agree to debate
those state restrictions and to declare the Articles of Confederation NULL
AND VOID! They also changed the ratification process, reducing the required
states' approval from 100% to 75%. There is no reason to believe a
contemporary Con Con wouldn't further "modify" Article V restrictions to
suit its purpose.

As former Chief Justice Warren Burger said in a letter written to Phyllis
Schlafly, President of Eagle Forum:
"...there is no effective way to limit or muzzle the actions of a
Constitutional Convention. The convention could make its own rules and set
its own agenda. Congress might try to limit the convention to one amendment
or to one issue, but there is no way to assure that the convention would
obey. After a convention is convened, it will be too late to stop the
convention if we don't like its agenda. The meeting in 1787 ignored the
limit placed by the confederation Congress..." (emphasis mine)

We were blessed in 1787; the Con Con delegates were the leaders of a freedom
movement that had just cleansed this land of tyranny.

Today's corrupt politicians and judges would like nothing better than the
ability to legally ignore the Constitution - to modify its "problematic"
provisions to reflect the philosophical and socials mores of our
contemporary society.

The majority of U.S. voters just elected a dedicated leftist as President.
Republicans are at their weakest right now! This is a horrible time to try
such a crazy scheme. We cannot control the debate right now! Don't for one
second doubt that delegates to a Con Con wouldn't revise the 1st Amendment
into a government-controlled privilege, replace the 2nd Amendment with a
"collective" right to self-defense, and abolish the 4th, 5th, and 10th
Amendments, and the rest of the Bill of Rights. Additions could include the
non-existent Separation of Church and State, the "right" to abortion and
euthanasia, and much, much more.

Our uniquely and purely American concept of individual rights, endowed by
our Creator, would be quickly set aside as an anachronistic relic of a
bygone era; replaced by new "collective" rights, awarded and enforced by
government for the "common good".

The problems our nation faces are not a result of deficiencies in our
Constitution; rather, they are the direct result of our disregard for that
divinely-inspired document of liberty.

There is no challenge faced by this nation that cannot be solved either by
enforcing existing law, or in limited cases, by writing new law. We do not
need, AND MUST NOT RISK THE LIBERTY OF THE UNITED STATES with, a
Constitutional Convention!

Ohio must not vote for a Con Con! We cannot control the debate! And state
#34 is likely sitting silently in the wings, ready to act with lightning
speed, sealing the fate of our once great nation before we can prevent it.

Stop the Ohio bill and we can stop the Constitutional Convention.

ACTION TO TAKE

We need only stop the House bill, HJR8, sponsored by Representative Louis
Blessing, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (there is a Senate bill
too).

1. Call Chairman Blessing's office and tell his staff you oppose a
Constitutional Convention and you want this process stopped.

Tell them this is the most dangerous time ever to call for such a
convention.

2. Call Representative Bill Batchelder. He is a very good man. I've known
him for y ears. But he has been misled on this issue. The word is he is
wavering. Your calls can convince him to withdraw his support. That can kill
this bill.

3. It is URGENT that you make your calls right now. The bill could be voted
on as early as this afternoon (Wednesday).

I'm so sorry for this late notice. We just found out about this last night.

Please get this message out far and wide. This task requires our very best
effort! E-mail and call your friends, family and neighbors. Network anywhere
and everywhere possible. If you know someone who never takes action,
encourage them to break that habit this one time. Our Constitution is under
assault!

Visit the American Policy Center website SEND THIS MESSAGE TO AT LEAST TEN
MORE PEOPLE! APC is now offering you a quick and easy way to multiply your
efforts and help win more battles! Simply click here to send this APC Action
Alert to up to TEN of your friends! It's fast, it's easy and most of all,
it's extremely effective in KILLING OPPRESSIVE POLICIES!
If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please reply to this message
with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line or simply click on the following
link: Unsubscribe American Policy Center 70 Main Street Suite 23 Warrenton,
Virginia 20186

First, the amendment shall require the President to submit and the Congress to adopt only balanced budgets for all federal programs and agencies, except in times of war.

Um, so since we are in the "Global War on Terror" and will be indefinitely.... is this amendment pretty much null?

And how does this affect RKBA since a) momentum from Heller and b) NRA memberships going up like crazy, popular support for 2nd amendment at an all time high?

ReadyontheRight

December 11, 2008, 12:22 AM

And how does this affect RKBA since a) momentum from Heller and b) NRA memberships going up like crazy, popular support for 2nd amendment at an all time high?

Because a limited number of people would suddenly have the right to change the Bill of Rights. Eliminate the Second Amendment. The Constitution is the definition of our country's limits on "popular support".

Kind of like how our tax dollars are being spent on "bail outs". Do you know the details? No. But you will live with them...

SHusky57

December 21, 2008, 12:04 AM

But we can change the bill of rights. The Bill of Rights are amendments to the Constitution. Legally, there is a process whereby the Constitution can be amended. It seems like the focus of this convention would be on fiscal/monetary policy, not rkba. I think right now, we have 27 amendments (Bill of Rights = 10, plus 17 others). 12 of the 17 additional amendments were passed in the 21st century.

And as for the "bailouts"? They are basically lines of credit to failing companies that have poor and/or insolvent business models - yet are deemed too important to the American economy (the arguments are strong on both sides) to fail. But that's a seperate topic for a different forum.

monkyboy1975

December 21, 2008, 12:12 AM

No need to worry, for now. The bill failed.:)

Byron Quick

December 21, 2008, 05:09 AM

But we can change the bill of rights.

Need to go back and do some research. The Bill of Rights has never been considered to be a granting of rights to individuals by any thing either the government or the group of individuals termed the 'people.' The Bill of Rights is an enumeration of rights held by all due to the fact they are human beings.

It being a list of enumerated rights and not granted rights, how could they be changed?

Read the 9th Amendment. Can those unenumerated rights be changed?

Also, the needed states to ratify the Constitution were only obtained by the addition of the Bill of Rights as it stands.

Actually, fooling around with the Bill of Rights contains cans of worms you don't want to try to fish with.

So, if you change the Bill of Rights, does it invalidate the affirmative vote of the states that required the addition thus rendering the Constitution's ratification invalid?